I have to start off this post by asking why anyone from our city would supposedly seek to weaken our representation in our county government. This makes no sense, but this is what Gordon Boyd and Sarah Burger want us to believe.
Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee member Gordon Boyd and Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Sarah Burger, who is also on the Democratic committee, have continued to champion misinformation about a proposed charter change despite copious data and documents to the contrary. The extreme gap between reality and their allegations is nothing short of breathtaking. They have been falsely asserting that the proposed charter language would jeopardize the city’s representation on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. In remarks at the June 2, 2026, City Council meeting, Boyd went even further to falsely claim that remarks by Charter Review Commission member and former County Supervisor Matt Veitch and former Public Safety Commissioner and charter commission member Lew Benton now exposed some kind of grand conspiracy involving the town of Halfmoon.
In fact, both Veitch and Benton voted in favor of the proposed change to the Supervisor language, as did every other member of the bipartisan Commission, and they still support it.
Lew Benton, former Public Safety Commissioner and County Planner, has done a tremendous service by extensively documenting state, county, and city laws, relating to the disputed Supervisor language, along with a detailed history of the evolution of the relevant county and city statutes, in an email at the bottom of this post. Its thoroughness and specificity contrast dramatically with the disheartening stream of unsubstantiated sound bites meant to confuse the public, expressed by Boyd and Berger.
I welcome Gordon Boyd and Supervisor Burger to respond to Lew’s analysis. I promise to post whatever they submit unedited.
Some Background Regarding The Current Charter Commission
The current Charter Commission was appointed by Mayor John Safford in 2025. It includes representatives from both major parties, along with some members who have registered as unaffiliated with any political party. Most importantly, it includes a number of attorneys, including former city attorneys, who serve as resources for the committee on both the city’s operations and the federal, state, county, and local statutes that affect our city’s power. City Assistant Attorney Tony Izzo, who has served as staff to most, if not all, the former charter commissions, also attends the Commission’s meetings. A number of the current Charter Commission members have served on previous charter commissions.
Here are the 11 members of the Commission:
- Vince DeLeonardis chairs the Commission. He served as the City Attorney during two administrations. He is not registered in a political party. He was originally appointed by Joanne Yepsen, a Democrat, and later by Meg Kelly, also a Democrat.
- Matt Dorsey served as the City Attorney of Saratoga Springs under both Republican Mayor Scott Johnson and Republican Mayor Michael Lenz. He is a registered Republican.
- Michael Lenz served as the city’s Mayor and as Finance Commissioner. He is a registered Republican
- Deidre Ladd works for New York Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, a Democrat, and is a member of the city’s Democratic Committee. She was a former Deputy Finance Commissioner under Democrat Michele Madigan.
- Lew Benton served as the city’s Commissioner of Public Safety. He is a registered Democrat
- Matt Jones is a partner in the law firm Jones, Steves, Grassi.
- Stephen Towne served as Commissioner of Accounts. He is a CPA who has been employed by a large national accounting firm. He is a Republican.
- Robert Murphy Jr. retired from the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, where he rose to the rank of assistant chief. He is currently the EMS coordinator for St. Peter’s Hospital. I do not know his registration.
- Dorothy Rogers-Bullis is the founder and principal owner of drb Business Interiors. She has been a member of the City Center Board since 2017 and was appointed chair in 2024. I do not know her registration.
- Molly Corbett is an attorney. She serves as a Supervisor in the Albany office of the Federal Defenders of New York.
- Matt Veitch served as Saratoga Springs County Supervisor from 2008 until 2025, and served as the Board’s chair. He is a registered Republican, but he was recognized by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee and given an award for his bi-partisan work at their annual Starbuck luncheon.
This is a very impressive set of individuals overall, and the Commission is particularly strong in the field of law.
A thoughtful reader has to ask, why, as alleged by Boyd and Burger, would these people conspire to craft legislation to weaken the city’s representation at the county level? Remember, the vote was unanimous. It makes no sense because it is simply not true.
Gordon Boyd’s Disgraceful Misuse of Individuals Serving This City on the Commission. He Seems Unable to Distinguish Truth from Fiction, Blatantly Misrepresenting the Charter Commission Members’ Remarks
During the public comment period of the June 2, 2026, City Council meeting Boyd asserted:
“The charge you (the members of the city council) are putting into effect is to allow the county to reduce the number of supervisors that represent the city in Saratoga County.”
Gordon Boyd
While Mr. Boyd has repeatedly claimed that the city is allowing the county to reduce our representation by changing the wording of the charter, the city has no authority to affect the county’s decision on representation in any way. The county has enjoyed the legal authority to draft how communities are represented since the late 1700’s. As recently as 2021, the county redrafted the electoral map following the federal census results. It is truly bizarre that Boyd should want to sell this patently false narrative that the city has sovereignty.He knows better.
This is being done for the town of Halfmoon. This is what this is for. This is for this council to provide a permission slip that you are being asked to adopt that allows the town of Halfmoon supervisor to maintain his 25,666 weighted votes on the board.
Gordon Boyd
Boyd confusingly claims that changing the wording of the Saratoga Springs charter is intended to affect the county representation of the town of Halfmoon, a matter that was determined 6 years ago. He fails to explain how this minor change in the language of the Saratoga Springs charter will affect Halfmoon’s representation or what malevolent motive the Commission members have for supporting the change.
What is most disgraceful is the way Boyd misrepresents comments made by Matt Veitch and Lew Benton at a Charter Commission meeting to claim they support his wild accusations. Veitch and Benton merely informed Boyd of the history of the Halfmoon Supervisor Kevin Tollison’s successful opposition to sharing representation for his town with anyone after the 2020 census. Both Veitch and Benton voted for the proposed Supervisor text change, as did everyone else on the Commission, and they are still in support of that change. It verges on real craziness for Boyd and his allies to allege that the deal for Tollison six years ago would somehow be affected by a tweak in the Saratoga Springs charter six years later.
Burger Supports Boyd’s Story And Opposes Text Change On Supervisors
Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Sarah Burger began her remarks at the same Council meeting with a long and disingenuous statement praising the Charter Review Commission members and their work. This did not stop her from continuing the narrative that the language proposed by the Commission for the Supervisors would somehow disenfranchise Saratogians. Most grotesquely, she suggested that adopting this work of the Commission would be somehow racist. She never explains how it would be racist, nor, despite being a lawyer, does she explain what was wrong with the text proposal. Instead, she offered the folksy, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It Is Broke
The Mayor charged the Commission with developing two sets of recommendations regarding the charter. State law requires that certain changes, including those that would affect the powers of elected officials in our charter, be made only by referendum. State law also provides that other changes to the charter may be made by a majority of the City Council.
Our charter has not been changed in decades. There are elements to the charter that are inconsistent and obsolete. There are elements of our charter that unnecessarily undermine efficiency. There are also simple grammatical elements that need cleaning up. The charter also needed greater clarity on how to fill vacancies on the Council, as demonstrated by the confusion that followed former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub’s resignation. These are the changes the Charter Commission has forwarded to the City Council for their consideration.
The proposed changes to the charter to be considered by the Council are relatively minor. Mr. Boyd and Ms. Burger apparently had to resort to creating a dubious controversy to discredit the Charter Review Commission because the proposed changes were all modest and merited. As I observed earlier, why would the Commission, with diverse backgrounds and expertise vote unanimously to propose that the City Council sabotage our representation in county government?
The real question is why Boyd and Burger want the public to falsely think the Commission and potentially the Council want to do this.
Benton White Paper
Some Thoughts on the City’s Most Recent Tempest in a Teapot
I understand Gordon Boyd gave me an honorable mention at the June 2 Council hearing on proposed amendments to the City Charter. I suppose I should be flattered.
As told to me, Gordon was speaking against a proposed change to TITLE 2.1, Officers, eligibility, terms of office, salaries.
That Title lists City elected officers. In addition to the Mayor and the four Commissioners, it includes “Two Supervisors”. As a member of the 2000 – 2001 Charter Revision Commission I can safely say that the “Two” simply recognized the status quo that had (has) existed since 1968.
But in hindsight, that language was ill advised for it may have suggested that the number of supervisors representing the City in Ballston Spa was a function reserved to Charter law. It is not. But it has now been, innocently or not, misrepresented. Perhaps those with open minds will consider the facts of the matter before taking sides.
As I understand it, Gordon somehow misinterpreted remarks I made as a member of the current City Charter Review Commission as supportive of his position against the proposed new language. I regret any misinterpretation or misunderstanding of comments I may have made, for I support the new language and voted to advance it to the City Council for its consideration. Why? Because the new language correctly recognizes that more than one supervisor representing any County municipality, predicated on population thresholds established by the Board of Supervisors, consistent with the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law.
The proposed new language reads “One or more Supervisors as may be established by County Law.” The proposed new language simply represents that by NYS Law the County determines, following each Decennial Census, the population threshold that triggers how many additional supervisors a town or city will have. Apparently Gordon and others falsely believe that the City through its Charter, local law or resolution may determine the number of Saratoga Springs Supervisors. It can not.
No city in New York can unilaterally decide how many representatives it has on a County Board of Supervisors. Because county legislative bodies must comply with “one person, one vote” constitutional standards, the apportionment of representatives is determined by the county and state, not by individual municipalities.
Understanding how representation is structured in New York clarifies why a city cannot make this decision on its own.
- County Jurisdiction: Apportionment and representation on a county Board of Supervisors are exclusively county-level matters. Any changes must be enacted by the county through the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law.
- Constitutional “One Person, One Vote”: In the 1960s, courts mandated that all county legislative bodies must provide equal representation based on population. If a city’s population represents X percentage of the total county population, its combined representation or total voting power must reflect that exact percentage.
- Weighted Voting: In counties that still utilize a Board of Supervisors (rather than elected county legislators), city and town supervisors’ voting power is mathematically weighted based on the population they represent.
- City Charters: While a city has the power under the Municipal Home Rule Law to amend its own city charter it cannot dictate the structural makeup of the county board.
- Any changes to the number of city representatives, their districts, or their voting weights require a county-wide redistricting plan or a revision of the county charter. Saratoga is non-charter. county. As such, it is guided by NYS County Law, the NYS General Municipal Law and the NYS Municipal Home Rule Law.
Brief History of the Transition and Maintenance of the Saratoga County’s Fractional Weighted Voting System and Number of Supervisors
Before the late 1960s, the Board of Supervisors operated on a traditional one-municipality-one representative model, as it had since it was established in 1791. This meant that rural towns with tiny populations had the same voting power as rapidly growing urban and suburban areas.
Not until 1996 did the County, as part of its 21st Century Study Commission appointed by then Supervisor Roy McDonald, seriously consider a change of form. Part of that initiative included a Saratoga County Government Study element, chaired by then-Charlton Supervisor Fred Hequembourg. I served as staff.
The Hequembourg study group ultimately decided not to recommend transitioning to a charter county with a county legislature but did move to create an appointed County Administrator title along with other modest changes. It seems we are stuck with a antiquated County government and there is no initiative to change it, certainly not from within.
Saratoga Springs transitioned from one to two county supervisors following the adoption of Saratoga County Local Law No. 2 of 1968. This law restructured the Board of Supervisors to comply with the federal one -person-one-vote constitutional redistricting principles.
- With its 1962 decision in Baker v. Carr, the US Supreme Court established that redistricting questions are justiciable (meaning they are legal questions the courts can resolve rather than political questions left to legislators) under the Equal Protection Clause. Then, the Court’s 1964 decision in Reynolds v. Sims established the “one person, one vote” doctrine, which requires every state legislative district to contain roughly the same number of people. When each representative has the same number of constituents, people are equally represented, and their votes have an equal opportunity to influence policies in their state.
- In decisions made in 1962 (Baker v. Carr) and 1964 (Wesberry v. Sanders, Reynolds v. Sims) the United States Supreme Court made clear that the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution requires legislative districts to be “substantially equal in population.”
- In 1968 this principle was extended by the Court to apply to local governments (Avery v. Midland County).
- Towns and cities within counties were, of course, not equal in population. Thus in 1968 counties with boards of supervisors found their governance structure immediately in violation of the U.S. constitution. Faced with this legal dilemma, those counties wishing to retain the Board of Supervisors form – and not opt to adopt charters and legislatures – had to structure an alternative approach meet the complying with 1962 one-person-one mandate.
- Historically, most of NY’s 57 counties outside New York City were governed by boards of supervisors. Today only 16 retain the board of supervisors form. The boards are made of the supervisors of each of the towns and cities in the county, augmented by additional supervisors elected from wards within each city (if any) in the county. However, since Saratoga Springs elects its representatives at large and not by wards or districts, its number of supervisors is determined by the same process applied to the Counties 19 towns.
- One option that allowed retaining a board of supervisors, while also abiding by the one-person-one-vote decision was to create a weighted voting system that equally represented citizens by giving supervisors different voting strength within the board, based upon their municipality’s size relative to that of other towns and cities in the county. And by LOCAL LAW NO. 2 OF 1968, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors did just that.
- 1968 (The Local Law): Prompted by federal court mandates enforcing proportional representation, Saratoga County passed Local Law No. 2. This established a population-based threshold system. Municipalities would automatically receive an additional county supervisor once their population crossed a specific threshold (initially set for one supervisor per 12,000 residents, and amended over the decades to 27,500 following the 2020 Census.
- Of course, to maintain Constitutional compliance the County must amend the original 1968 Local Law following certification of each successive Decennial Census to reflect population changes. The next census will be conducted in 2030. Baring a change in the current 27,500 threshold, current 2030 population estimates would result in No Change to the Board’s composition. Only Saratoga Springs and Clifton Park would have two supervisors, the other 19 municipalities would have one.
- Following the certified results of the 2020 Decennial Census, the County Board of Supervisors adopted the following Local Law. It details its most current makeup and establish the 27,500 threshold
COUNTY OF SARATOGA LOCAL LAW – 2022
A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND LOCAL LAW NO. 2 OF 1968, AS LAST AMENDED BY LOCAL LAW NO. 5 OF 2011, TO INCREASE THE POPULATION THRESHOLD FOR AN ADDITIONAL COUNTY SUPERVISOR
BE IT ENACTED by the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors as follows:
SECTION 1. That paragraphs a.) and b.) of Section 2 of Local Law No. 2 of 1968, as last amended by Local Law 5 of 2011, be amended as follows:
“SECTION 2. Such system of weighted voting shall be as follows:
a.) Each municipality shall elect one (1) Supervisor where its population is less than [25,000] 27,500 according to the latest decennial census and each Supervisor shall cast one (1) vote for each person in [his] their district according to such census.
b.) Where any such municipality shall have a population of [25,000] 27,500 one additional Supervisor shall be elected therefrom and one additional thereafter as each whole multiple of [25,000] 27,500 is attained. Such Supervisors shall each cast that number of votes arrived at by dividing the total population of each municipality by the number of its Supervisors.”
SECTION 2. That SECTION 3. of said Local Law No. 2 of 1968, as last amended by
Local Law No. 5 of 2011, be further amended as follows:
“SECTION 3. The composition of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors shall consist of twenty-three (23) Supervisors, with two (2) Supervisors each from the City of Saratoga Springs and the Town of Clifton Park, and one (1) Supervisor each from the City of Mechanicville and the remaining Towns of the County of Saratoga, and, hereafter, such number shall automatically increase by the addition of an additional Supervisor from each Town or City as its population, based on a County-wide Official Federal Census, shall reach [25,000] 27,500 or whole multiples thereof.”
SECTION 3. This Local Law is subject to a permissive referendum as provided in
Section 24 of the Municipal Home Rule Law.
SECTION 4. This Local Law shall take effect after it is filed as provided by law.
end
ljb, June 5, 20266
Saratoga Springs Politics 